Always Going
by Winged One
Summary: Going, going, I'm always going...Short, simple, and angsty. A semicanonical view of what leads Link to leave Hyrule in Majora's Mask following OoT. Sad, angsty. Sad. Did I say that already?


_Going, going, I'm always going_.

They should have been able to grow old together. They'd already missed it once; but free from the gathering storm clouds, they had an entire life ahead of them. Had the goddesses known their Hero would save the world not for them, not for glory, but for a lost princess? Had they known he would give all his soul not to their Triforce, but to her?

"I don't want you to go," she whispered, tears pricking at her eyes. "You and I…Link…we're the only ones who remember…"

He held her hand tightly, blinking away the tears in his own eyes. "I don't want to go either," he confessed quietly. "But…I have to. She was…she was my dearest friend. And it's not like…me and Saria, because I know Saria is always watching over us from her Temple…Or like you and me, Zelda, because I know you'll always be here for me." Their eyes met. "But Navi…I don't know where she is, and…"

"I know," Zelda said. "Navi was always there, wasn't she? When no one else could be." When I couldn't be. When she couldn't be—but she didn't say it.

_Going  
_

It was bad enough that she'd just left when the flow of time had been corrected. Watching her go, he'd felt his heart wrenched from his chest. How many times had he told her to go away? And now she had. He was used to being left, now. Friend by friend had disappeared into shadowy, silent temples or grown up without him.

But she'd waited seven years, hadn't she? She'd waited there seven years for him, watching with Rauru as he slept. Even being near Ganon in that last fight had nearly killed her, but she'd been there anyway.

They'd hated each other from the start, which was probably why they came to love each other. It wasn't just friendship—Link had come to need Navi. Waking up seven years older than when his eyes had closed…but she'd still been there…

But no one knew where she'd gone. Not Saria, not the new Deku tree.

She was just gone.

_Going_

He knew it wasn't fair, either, to leave Zelda this way. Without Navi, they _were_ the only ones who remembered Ganondorf, who remembered seven years that weren't real any more.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I know it'll be hard, but…I'll come back."

She met his eyes and inhaled sharply. "Promise me."

"I promise."

"I can't be the only one who knows. Please! If you go, I'll go crazy. I will. There'll be no one to tell me it's real. Please, Link."

"I promise," he said, planting a kiss on her temple. "I'll find Navi and I'll come back. I wouldn't leave forever."

And if dreams tell me otherwise? Zelda thought. You've broken your promise already.

_I'm_

There was no reason to linger anymore, and soon he was mounting Epona. He'd waited a few years, wandering randomly from the Kokiri Forest to Kakariko to Hyrule Castle. Zelda had watched him and known that he'd go after Navi, before the dreams even started.

It was only fair, after all. It was his turn to leave. He'd had to watch her go on the back of Impa's horse, disappearing into the rain, only to find out seven years later that no one had seen her since. She'd been able to watch him then, but he'd had to feel the pain of never knowing she was there. It would be the same—oh, it would be the same! The dreams always came. Nothing stopped them. Hero of Time? It wound itself around him. He changed time, for some reason. She'd watch him again.

He wouldn't come back.

He wouldn't find her.

And with him going, Zelda thought, will I stay sane? The Sages remember, but they're hardly even in this world any more. It's only me, now. And if no one believed my dreams before—who'd believe this?

Soon he was gone from the horizon. Zelda bowed her head and closed her eyes, as if the tears wouldn't come. He was gone now.

_always_

Maybe it was only fair, he thought as the dry plains swallowed the horizons. Maybe it was always him doing the leaving. He'd left Saria behind, hadn't he, and the Kokiri Forest. He'd left Ruto even when she'd said she loved him. He left everyone for seven whole years. The Gorons had needed him, the Zora had needed him, but he'd gone.

Maybe it was just that everyone left everyone behind. He'd been left behind, too, just as certain as he'd left. That had to be it—it made sense that way. That life was just a series of exits.

Part of him was burning to turn around and get back to Zelda as fast as possible. He'd lost everything else and there was no reason to lose her! He loved her, he needed her.

But he loved Navi too. He needed her too.

So he'd be going, going, always going.

_going_

_Goodbye…_


End file.
